Council did not listen to charge concerns, says Labour

MP Annaliese Dodds penned the letter alongside local Labour leaders

Oxfordshire County Council have been accused of "not listening" to local concerns over the city's new congestion charge by senior figures in the county's Labour Party.

In a letter to the authority's transport chief Andrew Gant, Oxford East MP Annaliese Dodds said there had been "huge local disquiet" regarding the charge scheme.

The former cabinet minister penned the letter alongside Susan Brown and Liz Brighouse - who lead Labour's groups on the city and county council.

It follows Oxfordshire County Council's announcement earlier this week that the temporary £5 charge would be introduced on six city centre streets on 29 October.

Councillor Andrew Gant told the BBC on Thursday that he was "waiting eagerly to see what happens" when the scheme begins, adding that he was "confident that it will work".

Andrew Gant said he was "waiting eagerly" for the scheme to be introduced

But in their joint letter, Dodds, Brown and Brighouse wrote that they had concerns that were "based on listening to local residents".

"There is huge local disquiet about the division that has been produced by different travel schemes, especially when these have been imposed from outside," the group wrote.

"The only way to heal these divisions is for local people to be listened to."

"We will continue to argue for this as sadly the county council so far has not been listening to local communities when it comes to this scheme."

The trio also raised specific concerns regarding funds being raised by the scheme not being spent on programmes aimed at the city's residents, whilst also questioning the authority's traffic modelling.

They also addressed points raised by Mr Gant in an open letter he had published earlier this week, which the they said they were "surprised" and "disappointed" by.

In his letter, Mr Gant had said Labour's criticism of the congestion scheme was "grotesque, upsetting and bizarre".

"You ask that the county focus on improving public transport instead of this. There is no 'instead'," he wrote.

"You demand benefits which flow from our policies but pretend you don't have to take responsibility for them," he added.